


Glitch

by bernieloverstuff



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 21:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2204328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bernieloverstuff/pseuds/bernieloverstuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Groot has managed to offend Gamora, so he talks to Rocket in hopes of figuring out just what he did wrong. One-shot, established Rocket/Groot, subtle fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glitch

Groot glanced into the kitchen. Rocket's tiny frame was at the table, seated on a few thick pillows on the bench. The table was, as usual, covered in parts. His bustling was content tonight, not anxious or compulsive. Groot ducked his head and stepped into the room.

"Sunlight," he greeted. Rocket tensed, his tail going stiff and fluffy. The Colossus noticed his mate's gaze darting quickly to the reflection of the doorway, making sure nobody else had heard. They were, indeed, alone. After the rest of the team had learned to understand Groot's words, the raccoon had become even more cautious about his little pet names being overheard. Groot had so many names for him. Sunlight, Favorite Branch, Everything, and the one Rocket liked the least, Sapling. He deemed such names beneath a fierce and dangerous soldier as himself. At least in public. Behind closed doors, Rocket let Groot call him whatever, do anything at all to him, with complete surrender. But some things never changed. Rocket relaxed when realizing they were alone, and returned to his tinkering with a muttered hello. The Flora Colossus slowly sat down opposite his mate, and instead of bringing up what he had meant to, got momentarily distracted by Rocket's hands. 

Rocket picked up a part he deemed fitting, and tried to jam it in its place. It wouldn't. Frowning, he put some force into it, slamming the piece until it suddenly clacked into its hole. A victorious, private smirk appeared on the raccoon's lips, and he muttered something under his breath, reaching his hand over a pile of flat, round discs. Tiny little fingers wiggled over the pile, as if summoning ancient knowledge on what choice to make. Groot found those minute fingers mesmerizing. Rocket snagged a disc and glanced at his partner.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Groot stirred from his trance and looked at Rocket, letting out a questioning hum. 

"Something's off," the raccoon said, seemingly returning his attention on his weapon. Groot frowned, remembering. 

"I have managed to offend Gamora," he said. Rocket shrugged, not looking up.

"So apologize," he said. Groot let out a sigh.

"She left the room before I had a chance to," he said. 

"So the next time you see her, you'll just say sorry and she knows you never mean flark so she's gonna forgive you. Problem solved," the short man declared, knocking his gun against the table surface a few times, apparently testing for some quality Groot couldn't decipher. Groot nodded, still not at ease. Rocket glanced at him from under his brows, putting his gun aside and focusing on a new, larger part. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"So, whad'ja do?" he asked nonchalantly. Groot blinked, straightening up. His expression became earnest. 

"I was merely trying to demonstrate that my ability to deduce the gender of her kind has improved," he said. Rocket bit his tongue, keeping his eyes on the parts. He could already sense where this was heading. 

"Uhuh?" he encouraged innocently. Groot frowned. He described to Rocket how he had told the assassin about his progress. She'd been nodding absentmindedly while testing the grip of several weapons in Drax's collection, listening to the Colossus with half an ear as he described the visible traits of females of her kind. Bone structure, waist to hip ratio, voice, average height. But then, for some reason Groot couldn't understand, when he got to describing her breasts and vagina, her entire face paled, she slammed the knife she'd been holding on the table, and walked briskly out of the room, slamming the door to her bedroom shut. Groot had panicked, completely confused. 

Rocket stared at his mate, eyes wide. Then he threw his head back, howling with laughter. Groot wasn't surprised; the raccoon had laughed at his social clumsiness a million times. It didn't even offend him anymore; the only thing that bothered him was the idea that he had insulted her. Rocket was really enjoying himself, slapping his knee, wheezing. Groot quite liked seeing him like this; such laughter from Rocket was rare. The Flora Colossus waited patiently for the raccoon to calm down. Rocket snickered, wiping his eyes with the back of his fuzzy arm. 

"Man, you can tell she really loves ya! Anyone else had said that to her, she would'a USED that krutacking knife on 'em!"

"Why did she get offended?" Groot asked, "I was merely-"

"Yeah, yeah, jeez," Rocket interrupted, waving his hand at the tall man, "I told ya about this stuff, didn't I? That some species are pretty sensitive about this crap? Especially ones with visible junk?" Junk. One of the many, many words Rocket used for genitalia. Groot had always had difficulties making out genders of alien species. There was no visible difference between Flora Colossi males and females. The mammals he had befriended as a sapling had just one tiny difference, and that was the males being slightly larger than the females. It wasn't until Groot left his planet that he started to get acquainted with species where there were rather significant physical differences between genders. It didn't make it any less difficult, however, for there seemed to be no universal rules that applied to all races. Sometimes the males were larger, sometimes much smaller. Sometimes the females had specific appendages, sometimes they didn't. It was just all so mind-boggling. 

There had been a phase where he had tried to apply the concept of "breasts" or "penis" to all species, trying to make it easier for himself. It got problematic. He would meet individuals with appendages the size and shape or breasts or penises, scattered on random parts of their bodies: the neck, the back, the thighs, the arms, the tail, the tentacles... it just got so overwhelming he gave up. He didn't really care that much about the gender of strangers, anyway. Groot admired Rocket. The raccoon had the ability to glance at a person, and within seconds gather a veritable myriad of information about them. The estimated height and weight, speed, physical strength, age, gender, social status, wealth, potential location and quality of hidden weapons... Groot knew it wasn't a gift. It was a skill Rocket had been forced to learn in order to survive. It didn't make it any less impressive. 

Rocket sighed joyously and picked up two new parts, assessing their potential, casting one away and picking up a new one.

"Yup. You've never been all that great at picking up on stuff," he said. Groot frowned, absentmindedly stroking a leaf that had bloomed on his shoulder. 

"What do you mean?" he asked. Rocket gave him a meaningful glance. Groot's expression didn't falter. The raccoon leaned his elbow on the table and raised a brow. 

"Like when we first met and I pointed out hot chicks to you?" he asked. "What, ya don't remember?" Groot did. His memory was eidetic, and it had been fully restored when he once again reached adulthood. Long before their relationship became romantic, they would saunter along streets after missions, and Rocket would nudge his head in the direction of females passing by, and mention specific body parts on them, or tell him to "check them out." Groot hadn't understood the meaning of this behavior. Rocket would tense slightly at these moments, and glance into Groot's eyes, clearly waiting for Groot to react in some specific way. The Colossus could tell he was missing some social clue. But the raccoon would never reprimand him for his stupidity like he usually did when Groot missed something. He would, instead, quickly draw their attention to something else entirely, and pretend like the whole incident didn't even happen. It wasn't like Rocket, which had confused Groot considerably at the time. 

Rocket stared at his mate, then sighed in exasperation, shrugging. He couldn't help but smile a little as he picked up the part on the desk.

"Ah! You ain't got a jealous bone in your body!" he said, sounding quite pleased. Groot's eyes widened. Suddenly the color of his memories changed, sparked vividly. All those moments gained whole new meaning. 

Rocket had been trying to scope him out, gauge his feelings. Long, long before they became more than friends, Rocket had already felt that way. 

Groot was overcome by a sudden rush, a warmth in his chest. He leaned forwards and wrapped his large hand over the raccoon's. Rocket halted, tensed, glanced at the reflection of the door. Peter was walking down the hallway, whistling, the headset on his ears, undeniably doing a bit of a dance. He passed the kitchen door without paying them attention. Rocket nonetheless slowly pulled his hand away, but not without turning his palm upwards first and lovingly scraping the bark of Groot's palm. This had become their private little way of kissing without kissing; it had started in the bedroom and transitioned outside. Rocket would sit on Groot's shoulder in public, and softly, subtly, scrape his bark. The Colossus would close his eyes despite himself, and lean into it, shuddering slightly. Only they knew what it meant.

Rocket picked up two new parts with a small smile on his face. Groot wanted to say a number of things, but there was really no need. They sat in silence for a while, Groot watching his mate bustle with the parts. Rocket halted when they heard what was undeniably Gamora's footsteps come down the hallway, and pass the kitchen. Groot looked at the raccoon. Rocket sighed.

"Look, you're gonna say ya didn't realize talking about those parts wasn't right. Nothing to it." He paused, biting his tongue thoughtfully.

"Just, in the future, don't talk about any part of her body in general," he added, a distracted frown on his face. Groot nodded. The team knew there was an unspoken bond between Rocket and Gamora. They shared experiences the others couldn't fully understand. Groot resisted the urge to coddle his partner; it always arose when he saw Rocket thinking about his past. And Rocket always resisted the coddling feverishly. They heard Peter and Gamora talk in the hallway about something, and then the human was in the doorway, suggesting a game of cards. After a few minutes of arguing, Rocket caved in, and a jolly Peter went to set up the table. The raccoon muttered under his breath, rubbing oil off his hands with a cloth. Groot perked up, getting an idea.

"Should I inform Peter I have learned to tell his gender?" he asked. Rocket's eyes widened with alarm, and he shook his head quickly, violently. He could already imagine the look on Peter's face at Groot casually starting a conversation about his penis.

"No, no! Not necessary! He pro'lly knows already, anyway," he said urgently. Groot seemed to accept this with a nod, after a moment's thought. He got up and lifted Rocket off his booster pillows, which was met with growling and a few curses; the raccoon hated being reminded of his height. Groot just smiled at him lovingly. Rocket groaned, rolled his eyes and headed out the door, the giant lumbering behind him.


End file.
